Economic and Ecofriendly Synthesis of Biocompatible Heteroatom Doped Carbon Nanodots for Graphene Oxide Assay and Live Cell Imaging

Abstract

The present work reports an economic and eco-friendly strategy for fabrication of nitrogen doped fluorescent carbon nanodots (CNDs) by an electrochemical approach. Relative to previously reported approaches using harsh reaction conditions, the electrochemical approach requires less energy and reaction time for the preparation of highly stable CNDs. For the first time, four alkanolamines (ethanolamine, 3-amino-1-propanol, 4-amino-1-butanol, and 5-amino-1-pentanol) have been chosen for the preparation of CNDs, and it is found that with increase in chain length, the quantum yield (QY) value increases. The maximum QY of 51% was found for the CNDs derived from 5-amino-1-pentanol. The as-prepared CNDs have very narrow size distribution and excellent water dispersibility. The CNDs were used for quantitative detection of a nanomaterial i.e. graphene oxide without any cross-reactivity. The label-free, fluorescence sensor was also applied for the detection of graphene oxide in environmental water samples and human ...